Georgias youngest mayor was ousted over unfounded innuendos as lawyer warns of dangerous precedent
Georgia’s youngest mayor was dramatically removed from office over “unfounded” innuendos, his lawyer claimed — and he has warned that the drastic move risks setting a “dangerous” precedent.Stockbridge Mayor Jayden Williams, 23, was impeached on a three-to-one vote following a 10-hour hearing Saturday after he was accused of racking up $4,000 worth of personal expenses on a city credit card, and sexting an 18-year-old male high school student, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.Williams’ lawyer, Robert Kenner, claimed prosecutors tried to “defame” the elected official, just 10 months into his term as Stockbridge mayor, and warned of the repercussions of removing him from office.“You will be setting a dangerous precedent by removing an elected official that the citizens of this city have duly elected by allowing people to come up with all kinds of accusations, innuendos that are unfounded,” Kenner said.
“Just because you may not like how he moves, you may not like the way he speaks, you may not like the way he speaks, you may not like his lifestyle, but is that enough to take a draconian action to remove the city mayor?”Robbie Ashe, one of the city’s prosecutors, had argued that the allegations that had been leveled against the mayor constituted a betrayal of public trust.But Williams has not been slapped with criminal charges.Warnings about the consequences for democracy were also echoed during the hearing.“The city council has been very biased towards him,” Stockbridge resident Kristina Warren told Atlanta News First.“I just think that he deserves a more fair chance at being mayor.
He’s a very young individual, people are taking advantage of that.They’ve not tried to see his potential and what he has to offer.”Another resident said he doesn’t believe all the allegations leveled against Williams were true.Other residents are also lamenting the politician’s removal from office.Brandon Walker told WSB he believed th...